Phillies: Manuel still tinkers with top of the order

Since Rollins returned from the World Baseball Classic, Charlie Manuel has been going back and forth, batting the veteran shortstop leadoff and the new center fielder second one day, then flipping them the next.

Perhaps Manuel doesn’t want to show his hand until he hands in the Phillies’ lineup card Monday night at Turner Field for the opening game of the season against the Braves. The more likely answer is that, well, he hasn’t really decided what he’ll do with the top two spots in his batting order yet.

“I just want to see how we match up right now,” Manuel said this week. “I want to try and get the best combination I can.

“I want to see how we play, who can get on, how much Ben can run and how much Jimmy can get used to hitting second, too.”

For the better part of a decade, Rollins has been the Phils’ leadoff hitter, and even though critics have complained for the same amount of time about the characteristics of his offensive game that aren’t optimal for batting first, there seems to be one number that has no counterpoint: 7,983. That’s how many runs the Phillies have scored during the past 10 seasons, and the rest of the National League is well in the distance.

Wednesday in Lakeland, Revere was on his own against Justin Verlander and the Tigers. With Rollins getting the day off, he hit leadoff and applied himself well, getting two hits, scoring two runs, stealing two bases and forcing two errors -- one on a botched pickoff attempt by Verlander -- as the Phillies took a 4-1 win at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Early in camp Rollins expressed regret about being less open to a change in batting-order position in the past, and that he was ready to accept a new role if it were deemed best for the team. There was one caveat: He wanted a prospective new spot in the order to be firm.

Manuel might try to finagle a deal with Rollins in the opening month so he can experiment a little. After all, with catcher Carlos Ruiz suspended for the first 25 games and right fielder Delmon Young likely to miss at least that many games as he slowly works his way back from offseason ankle surgery, there will be some minor changes required once they return.

“I think Rollins definitely can hit second, or third, or first,” Manuel said. “It’s just a matter of what we want to do. We can have a really good lineup if we can get Ruiz back and Delmon Young on the field. We can produce some runs.

“I think our lineup, when we get those guys back, can be our strongest lineup. Until we we get Delmon and Chooch back, we have to move our lineup around a little bit.”

The difference between this April and last April when it comes to the lineup being manipulated is that it isn’t mainstays Ryan Howard and Chase Utley needing to be replaced in the Nos. 3 and 4 slots, and an untested rookie (Freddy Galvis) and a middling veteran (Ty Wigginton) as the positional replacements. Young will be replaced by a combination of John Mayberry Jr. and Laynce Nix (or, if Manuel’s late-spring experiment carries weight, Galvis). Ruiz’s absence will be ridden out by Erik Kratz, who did a more than adequate job while the veteran was on the disabled list last season.

l l lCole Hamels wrapped up a solid spring with three shutout innings against Detroit, and despite what the clueless ESPN heads speculated when he left the game, the opening-day starter was purposely held back, since his previous start had him stretched to nearly 100 pitches.

Hamels finished the Grapefruit League with a 0.97 ERA, although those stats do spare him the battering he took from a chippy Team Dominican Republic as it warmed up for a WBC tournament that resulted in a Gold Medal.

l l lNOTES: Infielder Kevin Frandsen got plugged by a Verlander fastball in the left wrist and left the game. Although he had imprints of the baseball’s stitches on the swollen area, he didn’t think the damage would require more than a day or two of rest ... Antonio Bastardo followed up a strong two-batter outing Tuesday with an even better showing Wednesday in his first back-to-back outings. He struck out two in a 1-2-3 seventh. Chad Durbin, who has had a shaky March, also worked a scoreless inning as the relievers seem to be hitting their stride as the exhibition season comes to a halt.

All that’s left in Florida is a Thursday farewell game against Toronto, although this one carries a bit more weight since Roy Halladay is starting. The scuffling veteran is scheduled to go 80-85 pitches as the Phils hope to see more out of him than he showed in a minor-league start Saturday.